Walden Media Hasn’t Dropped Out of Narnia, Still Negotiating
We have been contacted by someone close to the production who claims that Walden Media has pulled out of making any further Narnia movies.
We are trying to confirm this news as quickly as possible. And should this indeed be the case, we have no idea what will become of the series from this point on.
UPDATE: There are a number of conflicting stories about what’s going on. We’re hearing different things from different people, so until things start to settle down we really don’t know anything for sure. What we can say for sure is that the future of the franchise at present is rather murky. Negotiations may or may not be ongoing, or may have ground to a halt for a while. We’re going to just have to wait and see what shakes out. -Tirian
UPDATE 2: I did have a chance to speak with officials from Walden Media today. Walden stated emphatically that they are still pursing another Narnia film and that they are continuing discussions with the C.S. Lewis Estate to make that a reality. At the present time nothing has been confirmed. But there has not yet been a final yes, or a final no. If Walden does another Narnia film, it will almost certainly be The Magician’s Nephew.
I think it is clear that some negotiations are still taking place, though perhaps as I suggested earlier, they are stalled. It is likely that Walden’s option on the film will last for several more years so it could be quite some time before we know for sure one way or the other.
I wonder if there is a chance someone else will continue the series. Is there life after Walden?
Was there life with Walden?
Either that was the end of it, then, or someone else will make these films into what they were supposed to be.
Sad, I was really looking forward to the whole series. But if its true, we can hopefully get more faithful adaptation in the future. I love LWW, thought it very faithful. PC is great, but a more faithful adaptation would be great. VDT I like, but it pales in comparison to the book and I'd like a movie without the green mist- however I don't hate the movie either.
I really wish it to continue.
Well, if this is true, then it's very possible that Fox (who I believe expressed interest in continuing) will take over completely.
It's not too big of a deal, I think, if that happens, because they still have to deal with D.G. and the Estate – same as Walden. It just depends how much Fox values the potential of the series even though it hasn't turned into the next Harry Potter as hoped.
Thing is, now that these movies have been made, that pretty much ensures there won't be any new adaptions made any time soon. Forty or fifty years from now, maybe, but not now.
If this happened before VoDT, I would've been crushed. Now, not so much.
Also, if it's true.. It angers me. Why give us the hope between SC and MN? If anyone were to drop out, I would've expected it to be Fox, not Walden Media. From LWW's success to this… They lost sight of what made Narnia special in the first place. Sad.
*activates his Blue Lantern power ring*
Maybe the franchise will be picked up by a production company that actually wants to make good Narnia movies. Of course, I imagine that would depend on Walden's willingness to sell the film rights.
"Even to a guy like me, that's cold." Haha
In this age of reboots and remakes, I wouldn't be so sure. I doubt we'll see a Narnia movie anytime soon…but you never know these days.
It would not shock me if a few years from now, another studio came along and decided to reboot Narnia with The Magician's Nephew.
If Fox gets full control of the series, there is no point in even waiting for a trailer. We should immediately start a boycott.
This could explain why we've been hearing barely any news since december. I'm sad about this, yes, but not crushed. But I don't think Fox will continue. They'll keep the rights for sure, to try and sell them 15 years from now.
Let's just remember the good old days of LWW and PC. It's a part of my youth, anticipating these films, but I don't think I can take another BDT, so maybe it's for the best?
Yes, maybe this is the chance to look at the series again and put them on the big screen in a way that would do C. S. proud. Waiting for excellence is worth waiting for! Still, good or bad, I will miss following all the production stories on Narniaweb. That to me was always half the entertainment. Take or leave the actual film!
Oh, I don't think it'll be that bad.
I'm starting to think that a slight departure from the fanbase might be a good idea. I'm probably a bigger book-fan than most, but VDT's random insertion of the coracle, seagull, etc, rather annoyed me. I'd rather get a good story without the material from the book than a mishmash of what the writers know they ought to do to make it work cinematically but also know the fans want….
As a writer, I know this is a really difficult line to walk. Twice as difficult if one didn't grow up a dedicated Narnia fan.
I believe there is a way to write a Narnia movie fairly faithful to the book and yet cinematically sound: the first movie was this. (It was by no means brilliant on either count, but it was successful, which is what counts in the movie industry)
I believe that they'll find a wider audience with a film with about the level of faithfulness as LWW with the cinematic appeal of PC… and no green mist. XD
What will happen to the movie rights, I am willing to buy them for a cheap price
Mmm, one more thought.
Fox doesn't hold the rights to my knowledge. If and only if Walden really backed out, then I would assume they get first dibs, but they haven't paid for the rights. Walden did. So it really might be up in the air who'll take over.
I doubt they'll abandon the series entirely. A reboot under new management is very likely. (unfortunately, a reboot may abandon all previous films for continuity/actors, which would be sad – Will Poulter as Eustace is perfect)
Alternatively, wouldn't it be fun if a British company picked it up? I always felt the films could be a little less American in dialogue and a little more British, particularly after sampling some British tv (Doctor Who) recently.
sad I never imagined Walden woad drop out:(
Sure there will be plenty of people dis-appointed if true, thought Walden had potential to complete pretty captivating home run of all seven chronicles, they were certainly in the right direction for Narnia.
Well this is really bad to leave the Narnia series at this point when the three other movies are already made……:( I didn't expect walden media to leave it cause it was there in all the 3 movies…..unlike Disney pictures…:(…I pray that there would be ANOTHER GREAT COMPANY WHO WOULD HAVE THE SENSE TO TAKE NARNIA MOVIES…..!!!!!!!!…..Really sad to hear this…..Please God…save Narnia movies..!!!
Sadly, if Fox and/or Walden had in mind another "Dawn Treader"-style disaster — blurted-out, lame-adapted, man-made-religion-addled, and Lewis-ignorant — for the next film, I would be glad to see them stop first.
Give it instead to the folks with WB who made the "Harry Potter" films.
I'm just going to wait and see..i'm not going to start speculating.it just stresses people out to speculate and puts false ideas in our heads.
Please wait until you have the full picture before you draw conclusions. This may not be what you think and there are a lot of things going on. Don't post something like this when you only have half of the story. Walden is trying to continue with the series, but there are a few disagreements about how to proceed.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, now that my little surprised disapointmet has been expressed, I will behave with decorum and dignity as I await the truth in the unsettling matter.
It is over……
I can't say I'm truly happy about this since it was Walden who brought us two mostly good adaptations with LWW and PC. But I would rather have no Narnia movie than a bad Narnia movie. It's that simple, and if they were planning on making Magician's Nephew just as a money grab and not because these guys loved the book, then this is best.
Alas, I have to agree. If this is true I'm going to really miss NarniaWeb. That will be the biggest punch in the gut. 🙁
Sounds like you're already drawing conclusions. I think it is the most logical explanation if Walden truly wishes to pull out. Yes, in a perfect world they would make all 7. But in a perfect world, abominations like VDT wouldn't happen either. I think Walden and Fox have more than a few disagreements. I believe Walden has decided that out of their options available to them, they do not wish to make any more movies.
Wow, I don't know what to think… this saddens me. 🙁 looking forward to Narnia movies has been part of my life for six or seven years now. I was disappointed with many unfaithful portions of the movies, but I always hoped the series would continue. So many Narnia moments I'd still like to see onscreen! I guess we'll see what happens next…
What he's saying is that we also have information from some folks involved in the production, and at Walden Media, and there is some misinformation coming from somewhere, but we're not saying who said what until we are sure of what is actually happening.
Reep, if this proves to be true, I would not fret for the future of NarniaWeb! Narnia has always lived on, apart from the films, for it was born not with acting, effects and camera work, but in the imagination of the "Chronicles of "Narnia" author, C.S. Lewis.
"Narnia is not dead. This is Narnia."
Thanks you two for this info, I won't stress then until full info is given. Hopefully this is false and they are indeed gonna continue.
If it's true, the films (in anything approaching a semi-recognizable state) are done. Unless there are other Christian billionaires who own major studios that I am unaware of.
But, really, what else does Walden have? This sort of smells like a negotiation tactic. I think the more interesting question, as opposed to "Will Walden continue?", is, "Who is making it difficult for Walden to continue?" Are FOX over-asserting themselves on the creative side? Is the Estate objecting to something? Or has Philip Anschutz informed them that he'll need the Narnia money for his NFL ambitions?
Regardless, I agree with you, Rilian. Motivation is everything for these films. You have to LOVE these books enough to UNDERSTAND them. Not LIKE them enough to EXPLOIT them. There's been a lot of talk about the former, and a lot of evidence concerning the latter.
Life will go on.
Oh, it'll be that bad.
Is this a joke? Cuz, if it is, I don't find it funny.
I rather think in five or ten years all three of the Narnia films will be considered classics. Fine, (if flawed) films and adaptions, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, all re-tellings of much loved stories.
Some time has passed since "The Lord of the Rings" movies were made, and most people agree that they're good movies. The adaptions were hardly word for word from the book, but no one seems to really remember that anymore.
Time is the only thing VotDT needs.
C.S. Lewis said in "The Four Loves":
"The especial glory of Affection is that it can unite those who most emphatically, even comically, are not. People who… would have had nothing to do with each other. If Affection grows out of this… their eyes begin to open. Growing fond of old 'so-and-so', at first simply because he happens to be there, I presently begin to see that there is 'something in him' after all." ("The Four Loves")
YES!
eh…this was likely to happen. Still kind of sad to see it end like this after all the optimism that followed the release of LWW.
What?????? I never expected that! That's the last thing I expected!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's so weird……………. Well…..I wonder what is going to happen from here? Yikes…I dunno if any more Narnia is going to be happening….
That would be rather disappointing if the news is true. I had expected at least one more Narnia movie. And it seemed they were pretty happy with Voyage Of The Dawn Treader grossing over 400 million $ worldwide. But i have to say the ending of VOTD nicely concludes the Pevensie trilogy. I'm glad we had 3 movies, not many movie-franchises get this far. But for now i try to remain optimistic until it's confirmed.
They keep drifting farther from the books to the point where they're just NINO (Narnia in Name Only). Who knows how bad they'd make the Silver Chair, and I'd be heartbroken to see the Magician's Nephew screwed up. I'm hoping this leads to a new team that can take what Lewis wrote and bring it to life in light with all that the technology we've got today allows.
No. 🙁 I really hope the news it confirmed as not true…
Actually most people agreed that the LoTR movies were good movies when they came out. Definitely everyone I knew personally, and if online polls are any indicator, a lot of other people as well.
OH DEAR! Don't leave us Walden!!!! But if you do leave, somebody else, PLEASE PICK US BACK UP! Don't forget what we thought when Disney dropped out, fellow Narnians! It wasn't over then and I believe we are not done with the Narnia films. Somebody will save us! (hopefully)
But what about Eustace??? What happened to, "Will I come back?" "Narnia may yet have need of you."?
Do you think it's within the realm of possibility that Fox will do this on their own? They wanted the rights to Narnia before, maybe they'd buy the rights from Walden. On the other hand low (compared to the budget) box office returns may have dampened their enthusiasm. 🙁
Ooooooh burn. I love it. Hahahaha
"So," said the King, after a long silence, "Narnia is no more." – The Last Battle, Chapter X, Page 103.
Sorry, I meant Chapter VIII
Eragon
Percy Jackson (now the sequel)
Narnia 3
+ more I can't think of. I have mixed feelings about this, but at least we have the first 2. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe was a truly spectacular movie. I hope this doesn't mean the end of Narniaweb too though. I'm kind of stunned right now.
Sadly narniaweb has only been known to joke about these things on April 1st and this is June 22nd.
"The end is near."
Narnia is one of the biggest franchises Fox has left. The new X-Men won't make as much money as Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. Avatar is still years away. And Star Wars movies are also not for the nearby future.
The overly American dialogue in the movies bothered me too. It wasn't natural at all. I thought they should have stuck with more of the original dialogue from the books.
I don't really know how to feel about this yet. I probably should be upset, but then I was getting sick of seeing Narnia twisted and turned upside down and inside out. Still, as movies, they were fun to watch, so I would miss them. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
While Lucasfilm says that they're done making Star Wars movies, Fox does have more potential in the X-men and Avatar franchises than you make out. First Class has already made more money than VDT domestically, and it's only been out for 3 weeks. And while Avatar 2 isn't coming out until 2014, any future Narnia film would be years away as well.
I knew it.
And I'm not terribly sorry. If it ends, it ends. I still have all seven books on my shelf, and that's all I need to keep Narnia alive. The films were teetering toward the point that rather than keeping the books alive, they were slowly killing them for me.
Long live Narnia. Good-bye Walden (and good riddance, too).
This is beyond shocking. I'm glad I don't have anything to do with Walden right now, otherwise I might be wringing a few necks and deafening a few ears. Never in all my life did I want to truly yell at someone. I mean, I've thought that perhaps the movies wouldn't continue … but Walden has almost become a traitor to the Narnia films.
Perhaps its for the best though. The movies have seemed to go downhill from LWW. Even though PC was my all time favorite movie … I mean is … VDT didn't exactly possess a Narnian feel or taste to it. Maybe when I'm older I'll be able to be a part of the movies … Maybe that's why God seems not to want the movies to continue just yet.
I wish I could say I was sorry to hear this, but after the execution of VDT, it's almost something of a relief.
The two books up for filming are two of my favorites, and I really wasn't looking forward to watching either one be adapted by the same hands that gave us last year's movie.
I guess could say I'll miss looking forward to future films. . . the anticipation, the wondering, theorizing with fellow fans, et cetera. But honestly, waiting to see what they'd do next to this very special series would have mostly been a source of stress for me. 8/
I'd rather anticipate waiting for someone who actually cares about the books to remake these films, even if it takes twenty-five or fifty years. At least then I could hope, instead of dread.
I believe time will pass and the movies will begin to be forgotten, but the books will remain beloved. Someone's eventually going to realize that all seven Chronicles are deserving of detailed, faithful adaptions. CGI will only get cheaper, and I think the lure of Narnia will only grow stronger. It's only a matter of time before someone with vision will be able to make these films as they should be made. My only regrets would be my lack of patience, and having to replace actors that really nailed their roles.
Of course, there's still a possibility that this current Narnia film venture isn't over yet. Another company may pick up the series, with some creative filmmakers that actually care about CoN and manage to "reboot" the Narnia series halfway through or something. But right now, after VDT—what the majority of filmgoers must think is the standard for Narnia films now—I'm not sure who will be willing to try. Anybody who really cared about the books themselves would likely want to just do a complete reboot, and it is probably too soon for that right now.
We'll see.
NarniaWeb will probably still be around, true, but it just won't bethe same without movies to speculate about.